Global Development Institute academics part of consortium awarded £5 million by DFID India

10 November 2016

Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth in India

Academics from The University of Manchester are part of a consortium led by IPE Global that has been awarded £5 million over 3.5 years by DFID to support the Government of India to address India’s climate change challenge. The research projects aims to identify more effective climate sensitive investments in rural infrastructure that could be undertaken through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS).

Prof Kunal Sen from the Global Development Institute is leading The University of Manchester team made up of GDI’s Dr Joanne Jordan and the Department of Economics Dr Prasenjit Banerjee, with GDI’s Prof David Hulme on the advisory board.

The programme will support India’s Ministry of Rural Development and three state governments Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh to facilitate more effective investment in rural infrastructure through India’s largest social protection programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS)

The University of Manchester team will work on generating evidence to inform a stronger policy focus on climate resilience in public works based social protection and development programmes, and strengthen the evidence base for how better quality physical assets can build more climate resilient livelihoods, with a specific focus on the poorest and women.

MGNREGS is the world’s largest public works programme. It aims to improve climate resilience of vulnerable people in India especially Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women and girls and support rural economic growth.